


Shattered Reflections

by amaresu



Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-07
Updated: 2009-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-02 11:25:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaresu/pseuds/amaresu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Can you make somebody stay when they want to leave?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shattered Reflections

She kisses him on the cheek and walks out the door.  


  
§§§  


She looks at him with tears in her eyes and walks out the door.  


  
§§§  


They make mad, passionate, break the bed, love and then she gets dressed and walks out the door.  


  
§§§  


Everything changes, but the ending stays the same. She always walks out the door. Staring at the door he yells in anger, “You promised me she would stay!”

“We promised you the chance to find a way for her to stay. Perhaps you should try harder.” The voice is flat and unemotional. It comes from everywhere and nowhere, just like it had when it first offered him this deal. He's not sure what the voice gets out of it and he doesn't care, as long as she stays.

He takes a moment to sit on the bed and think. He's replayed their last week together so many times that he doesn't know how he could change it anymore. It's clear that the last week was too late, she'd already made up her mind. He needs to go further back. With a grim smile he takes them back to their last date (the first last date). He brings them to their wedding (one of many). Sometimes they move to another country, sometimes they have kids, sometimes they can't even keep a pet. Everything changes and nothing does. He makes them live a thousand lives and at the end she always leaves.  


  
§§§  


He's not sure when they first started showing up. At first he didn't notice them, just a man dressed in gray and a woman dressed in blue, but they kept showing up. They sit at a table behind him on the day he first meets her (the first last date).

“This isn't real.” The man states as the woman hands him a cup of tea.  


  
§§§  


He sees them in the crowd at their wedding (the one in Bristol).

“You can't change the end of this story,” The woman murmurs to him as she throws rice into the air.  


  
§§§  


They are at the birth of Jacob (but not Susan or Mitchell or the time Jacob was a twin).

As they stand outside the glass of the hospital nursery the man questions, “Haven't you done enough damage?”

The woman touches his shoulder and tells him, “He doesn't really exist.” She gestures to the babies to make sure he understands.

He ignores them and the voice tells him to avoid them, so he tries to, but they still show up everywhere.  


  
§§§  


Then one day he finds them talking to her. She looks up at him with pity in her eyes and shakes her head before walking to the door.

“But I love you.”

“I know. I love you.”

“I can't live without you.”

“You can. You're stronger than you think you are.” She smiles at him before walking out the door.  


  
§§§  


He turns on them then, Sapphire and Steel (he learned their names on the second honeymoon to Venice). He throws things at them as he rages, “Leave us alone!”

Steel yells back at him, “Do you have any idea what you're doing?”

He laughs in response, of course he knows what he's doing. “I'm finding a way to make her stay.”

She slips out the door while they are fighting.  


  
§§§  


“You're hurting more then just me.” She says quietly before opening the door.

“Why do you do this?” Steel demands.

The answer is obvious, but he replies anyways. “Because I love her.”

“Do you?” Steel asks in return, the reproach in his voice clear.

“Do you?” She echoes before closing the door behind her.  


  
§§§  


“Why do you leave?” He demands of her as she stands with her hand on the door knob.

“Because I must.” She opens the door, but stops to look back at him, “Staying stopped being an option so very long ago. If I stay It wins and It can't win.”

The answer stuns him. He knows that the It she's talking about is the voice, but he doesn't understand what she means. He doesn't try anymore to stop her and Sapphire makes him some tea. “Let her go.”

“I can't.” He replies by rote. He's beginning to wonder if maybe he could let her go.  


  
§§§  


  
“You're strong enough to keep her here.” Steel states as she packs.

“I am.” That fact hadn't ever been in question.

“You are.” She agrees as she walks to the door.

Sapphire hands him a cup of tea and asks, “Are you strong enough to let her go?”

He stares at the tea and looks at her. The door is open now and she stands at the threshold waiting for his answer. “No, I'm not.”

“That's that then.” She nods her head and starts to walk out the door.

He runs to her and grabs the door to keep it from closing. “Could I come with you?”

“That would not be advisable.” Steel answers from over his shoulder.

Sapphire whispers in his ear, “It's time to say good-bye.”

“Good-bye.” He chokes it out around the tears in his throat. There is a loud crack and suddenly the room looks the way it did the first time she left. He runs to the window and she's walking to her car. He watches as she loads her bags and gets in. She looks at him through the windshield and waves before pulling away.

It's over. She's gone. He thinks he may have made the wrong decision, letting her go, but it's too late for that now. “What do I do now?”

Steel's voice comes from behind him,“You live your life. None of it was real anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Of course it was real. The fact that they're still standing there proves it.

Sapphire hands him one of her endless cups of tea and opens the door. “It was all in your head. In her head as well. It never had the power to actually let you re-write history. If it had that sort of power it wouldn't have needed you.”

“So why did all of that happen?” He doesn't remember sitting down, but he is. Looking at the cup of tea in his hand he sips it and waits for a response he's sure isn't coming.

“If you had managed to convince her to stay It would have found a way into this world. Her decision to stay would have created a small hole that it could have used to enter.” Steel is gone by the time he looks up at the door. Sapphire smiles at him sadly before closing the door behind her. When he walks to the window he's not surprised that neither of them are outside the house.


End file.
